A chipper Cockney actor with music hall background, first as boy vocalist, then in variety; after WW1 service (1914-19) Jerry Verno made his London regular stage debut in 1925; in Shakespeare, pantomime, musicals and modern plays, notably as Banjo in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941). He was in films from 1931, very busy in the '30s and memorable as one of the commercial travellers in The 39 Steps (d. Alfred Hitchcock, 1935). Later in very small character roles, like Alf the bookmaker in The Belles of St. Trinian's (d. Frank Launder, 1954). Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Film
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